The present invention relates to a supporting foot or landing gear for vehicles, such as semi-trailers or the like, comprising at the lower end of an extendable support unit a supporting foot which can be swiveled and which is adapted to compensate an offset of the position of the vehicle.
Supporting feet for compensating a positional offset are well-known in the prior art. Such supporting devices are arranged in pairs at the front bottom-side of semi-trailers, for example, and are employed when the semi-trailer is parked separate from the truck-trailer. In the case of longer parking times, leaks in the brake and air-spring systems cause the rear part of the semi-trailer to lower and, due to the locked parking brake of the mechanical axle suspension, the vehicle or the semi-trailer, respectively, moves forward. In this situation, the supporting devices or the supporting units and supporting tubes thereof, respectively, are subject to bending and buckling stresses which might cause damage to or failure of the supports. In order to be able to compensate this positional offset, supporting feet have been developed which are arranged in such a way that they can be swiveled or moved horizontally. For example, DE 40 03 414 discloses a supporting foot which comprises a swivel-supported roller segment and a foot plate, wherein the roller segment can be rolled along on the foot plate. However, a problem of such supporting feet is that, in the retracted state (travel operation), they cause clattering noises due to the separate elements and, in addition, due to the frequent minimal movements of the elements relative to each other, wear on the parts results, without the supporting foot having brought been into its operative condition.
Therefore, the object underlying the present invention is to provide a supporting foot for vehicles, such as semi-trailers or the like, as well as a method of actuating a supporting foot for vehicles, such as semi-trailers or the like, by means of which clattering noises during the travel operation may be reduced or prevented and by means of which the wear on the components may be reduced.